Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company

The surge of investment that filled the Anthracite region of northeastern Pennsylvania in the mid-1700s did not reach the Lehigh Valley until 1791 when coal was found near Summit Hill, west of Mauch Chunk, leading to the formation of the Lehigh Coal Mines Company. Coal was floated downriver on wooden rafts known as arks, which were dismantled and sold as lumber upon arrival. Flooding, shallow water and swift currents created financial problems for the company until Josiah White, familiar with canal locks and dams, leased the failed company around 1826, renaming it The Lehigh Navigation Company. The Lehigh Canal operated from 1827 to 1933, transporting coal from the northern fields of White Haven to the southern fields in Easton. In 1820 The Lehigh Coal Company united with the Lehigh Navigation Company, changing the name to Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N) in 1821. Mountain peaks near Wilkes-Barre thwarted a further expansion westward prompting the LC&N to complete the Mauch Chunk Railroad in 1827. In the 1870s, although the demand for anthracite coal increased, rail transportation began to surpass canal navigation, leaving the LC&N on unstable footing. Its need to convert to rail was financed by the lease of many of its properties by the Central Railroad of New Jersey. By 1919, LC&N employed 11,000 miners and produced 5 million tons of coal and in 1931 the Lehigh Canal was closed to commercial navigation. The demand for coal decreased steadily after World War II and in 1960 the last deep mine in LC&N closed and the company dissolved in 1965.

From the description of Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company records, 1835-1913. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 456558909

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